


What To Do When Your Superhero Has the Flu

by Ronoken



Series: The Miraculous World of Caline Bustier [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Beatdowns, Caline Bustier deserves a raise, Caline Bustier is the queen we deserve, Emotional, Gen, Humor, Identity Reveal, Mamabug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23048686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ronoken/pseuds/Ronoken
Summary: “Dammit girl,” Caline muttered to herself. “Why’d you have to go swinging in the rain this weekend?”“I told her it was a bad idea,” a small voice chirped.Caline blinked and turned around.A small, red, bug monster was floating in front of her.Caline screamed and tripped backwards, crashing into her desk and spilling the quizzes she had worked so hard to grade all over the floor. She scrambled away, her eyes never leaving the floating thing before her.“What are you?! Did you talk? How did you talk? What’s going on?!”All valid questions.***When Marinette gets sick and an akuma takes down both Chat Noir and Queen Bee, only one hero can answer the call. And she's not messing around.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Caline Bustier, Caline Bustier & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Lila Rossi, Caline Bustier & Original Character(s), Chloé Bourgeois & Caline Bustier
Series: The Miraculous World of Caline Bustier [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654729
Comments: 66
Kudos: 482
Collections: The What To Do Series





	What To Do When Your Superhero Has the Flu

Caline hated detention.

To be fair, all the teachers did. It was assigned round-robin, and even though that made it as fair as possible, she still didn’t like having to give up a Friday afternoon to stay even longer at school. Still, it could have been worse. So far, her classroom was empty, there was a horrible downpour outside, and she had a Squirtle to catch in the north corner of the room.

Caline Bustier was nothing if not professional.

“Okay. I’m gonna get you, and then if no one’s here by the time I’m done, I’m getting out of here. Mama has plans,” she mumbled as she moved around desks to catch the elusive digital creature with her phone. In truth, those plans primarily involved Netflix and a pizza that she swore she would only eat two pieces of and then save the rest, but we’re adults here. We know full well that she’s eating that entire thing by 1:00 AM.

Caline was so focused on her phone that she didn’t notice she wasn’t alone until she heard someone clear their throat from behind her. Caline dropped her phone in surprise and with a small squawk reached out for it a bit too late. It bounced off the floor with a loud cracking sound and slid under a table.

“Well, darn.” She turned around to see who she had embarrassed herself in front of to find none other than Ms. Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“Hi,” Marinette said with a small wave. “I’m here for detention. Where would you like me to sit?”

Caline blinked twice as she processed this, and then shook her head clear. “Um, what? Really? Okay, take a seat over there while I get my phone.”

She scurried under the table to grab her cell while Marinette sat in her old seat and proceeded to get her design notebook out from her bag. Caline grumbled at the crack that had appeared on her screen. “That’s what I get for not buying the screen protector.”

After straightening her blouse and making her way back to the front of the room, she turned and stared at Marinette for a moment. “Marinette?”

“Yes ma’am?” Marinette said, looking up from her sketchbook.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but why are you here? You’re literally the last person I expected to see get detention. Did you get into a fight with…” Caline’s eyes went wide as visions of Marinette giving Lila Rossi a superhuman body slam through a cafeteria table flashed through her mind.

Marinette shook her head. “No, ma’am. I, um, I got banned from the video game club for a week.”

Caline’s eyebrow went up at that. “Really? What happened?”

Marinette squirmed in her seat a little and went slightly red from embarrassment. “Well…”

***

The room was packed with cheering classmates as Marinette shot off a finisher combo on Alix’s robot. On the screen, a green mech started jumping up and down in victory. Alix shrugged and set her controller down, but before she could even get out a ‘good game’, Marinette had exploded.

“BOOOOM!” Marinette yelled out as she leapt atop her seat. She pointed with both hands right in Alix’s face and started hopping from one foot to the other. “Yeah! YEAH! That is how you do it! I smoked you! Hell yeah!”

She spun around, picked up her controller and threw it with all her might at the floor while screaming, **“WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, MOTHER _FUCKER_!” **

The controller exploded on impact.

Marinette was breathing hard and grinning like a mad woman at Alix. Alix remained frozen, her eyes wide with shock, as were the rest of the room’s.

Marinette cleared her throat and moved an errant hair out of place as she looked to the others with a smile. “So, who’s got next?”

***

“…I get a little competitive at video games.”

Caline nodded at that. She had heard stories from the other students. While she may have been Disney princess level sweet most of the time, it was well known that Marinette had a vicious streak in her when it came to competitive gaming.

“Well, since you’re here, you can help me out,” Caline said with her warmest smile. “I’d like to commission you for a project, and this gives us time to discuss it.”

“Oh? Um, okay,” Marinette said with a slight smile. “What can I do for you?”

Caline opened the pictures on her phone and brought up a picture of a young boy. From the photo, he looked no older than eight. “This is Allen, my neighbor’s son. He’s a huge fan of superheroes and his birthday is in a couple of weeks. His mother has been looking high and low for a decent costume that would fit him, but she’s had some trouble.”

“How so?” Marinette asked as she looked at the photo.

“Well,” Caline said, “His favorite hero is Ladybug, but he wants the version that, um, do you remember back when the Ladyblog showed her and Chat Noir switching places?”

Marinette nodded. She absolutely did remember that day _very_ well.

“He wants to be the Miraculous Mr. Bug,” Caline said with a smile. “And there is no such costume, either online or in stores.”

Marinette nodded. “So, you want me to design it?”

“Name your rate,” Caline said. “Mary is a good neighbor and friend, and I want to do this for her. I’m happy to pay for the services of the best designer in Paris.”

Marinette blushed heavily at that. “Thank you, Ms. Bustier, but you’re really being too kind. I mean, there’s plenty of good designers out there. Heck, Gabriel Agreste lives right here in…”

“Screw Gabriel Agreste,” Caline said a little too quickly. She covered her mouth. “Um, sorry. You didn’t hear that. What I meant to say was I believe that you are the best qualified person to take this job, and I am willing to pay your market rate. What do you say?”

Marinette smiled and laughed a little. “Well, while I can’t agree with your opinion, I also won’t turn down the work. Can you get me measurements?”

Caline handed Marinette a post-it. “I had his mother take them last night. I planned ahead.”

Caline watched Marinette as the young girl put the post-it in her notebook and was already biting her lip as she started to scribble down some notes. “Marinette? Please understand, you don’t have to do this. If you’re too busy with your job, I understand.”

Marinette took a few seconds to process that. She glanced up at Caline.

“My job?”

Caline stared back at Marinette.

“I’ll understand. I promise.”

Marinette swallowed and nodded. “Yeah. Um, it’s kind of, um, on-demand work? So, yeah. I should have enough time. Sure. My job.”

Caline hummed a bit and pretended to pay close attention to the placement of a pencil on her desk. “So, things going well at work?”

Marinette stiffened and nodded. “Uh, yes. Yes, they are. Things have actually been a bit quiet for the last two days, so, um, there hasn’t been a lot to do.”

Caline nodded. “Getting along with your coworkers?”

Marinette blushed a bit. “Sure! Um, why do you ask?”

Caline shook her head and smiled. “No reason, dear. No reason.”

Someday, Caline hoped they could stop dancing around the fact that she knew, and that Marinette knew that she knew, and that both were trying to pretend that the other didn’t know while acknowledging that each knew.

There was a flash of light from the windows, followed by a crash of thunder. Caline glanced at the windows and then at her student.

“Okay, I’m going to level with you. It’s only going to get worse out there. I don’t want to be here on a Friday. Do you want to be here on a Friday?”

Marinette smiled and shook her head no.

“I didn’t think so. What say we call this project time served and go enjoy our very wet weekends?”

“I think I can live with that,” Marinette said. “And Ms. Bustier?”

“Yes dear?”

Marinette smiled warmly at her teacher. “I’m not sure what happened, but thank you for cheering Adrien up. He told me you spoke to him about something important and that it really helped him. He even managed to have a talk with his dad! That, like, _never_ happens.”

Caline smiled. “I was happy to help. And I’m always here, if you need me, that is.”

Internally, Caline was squealing. One of her guilty pleasures was shipping Ladybug and Chat Noir. Since they were in front of her daily, she was never without new material to fuel her wild speculations. Still, she did her best to give them space and respect their boundaries. She swore on a stack of bibles that she never _actually_ wrote anything, but that was sober Caline.

Drunk Caline’s inbox was filled with comments.

Marinette nodded and then gathered her things. She tucked her sketchbook into her bag and sealed it tight before bringing out a broken old umbrella.

“Um, Marinette?” Caline asked when she saw the umbrella. “Would you like to borrow mine? That thing looks like it’s a bit broken.”

Marinette glanced at the umbrella and blushed a little. “No, it’s fine. This one is special to me.”

 _‘Ten euros says it was Adrien’s,’_ Caline thought to herself as the young woman waved goodbye and headed out of the classroom. A moment later, Caline caught sight of a red blur flying past her window.

“She’s going to get sick if she keeps running around in this weather,” Caline mumbled.

***

The first sign something was wrong was when Caline took attendance Monday morning. Marinette was nowhere to be seen.

Now, this wasn’t all that unusual. The girl did have a permanent hall pass, and Caline had up and told her she could be late from time to time if she needed to be, but still. Adrien was sitting right there, smiling and chatting with Nino, so Caline didn’t think the absence was, ahem, work related.

By lunch time, Caline was getting worried. Still no sign of Marinette.

By math, Caline finally just up and asked the class, “Has anyone heard or seen from Marinette? Does anyone know why she’s absent today?”

Juleka raised her hand. “Um, she has the flu, or something.”

Rose nodded. “It’s true! We went to check on her yesterday. The poor dear is delirious with fever.”

Caline nodded a thank you, but internally she was already concerned. If Marinette was sick, did that mean… Could superheroes _get_ sick? Did their health improve when they transformed? She had no clue.

 _‘Well, let’s just hope this day passes without incident and Marinette can get some good rest and recover,’_ Caline thought to herself.

Not three seconds.

NOT THREE SECONDS LATER.

Everyone’s phones buzzed at the same time.

“Akuma alert,” Max announced, checking his phone. “It looks like it’s at the Louvre. Um, I know it’s not right here, but does this mean..?”

Caline nodded. “Alright everyone, class postponed until the threat is confirmed detained. And since it’s already midafternoon, we’ll call it class dismissed. Call your parents, let them know your safe, and get to shelter. The gym is open as always.”

Chloé stood up as the class gathered their things. “Not to worry, everyone! I’ve totally got this. Pollen, buzz on!”

The class watched in awe as Chloé transformed into Queen Bee in front of them. Caline had to admit that while distracting, it was kind of awesome to watch a miraculous holder appear in front of them. Still, rules were rules. Caline would remind the blonde tomorrow morning that transforming in the classroom had been banned after… The pasta incident.

Caline shuddered. “Never. Again.” She muttered to herself.

Some things were simply too dark to discuss.

Caline tore her eyes off of Chloé for a moment to glance over to Adrien, but what caught her eye even more was the reaction of the other children. Some were watching with awe, but some…

Some looked upset, even sad.

 _‘I wonder…’_ Caline thought to herself. If Marinette _was_ Ladybug, then it would make sense that she would tap her friends for help. Did they not get to keep their powers?

Caline made a mental note to devote an evening to the Ladyblog to do some research.

As Queen Bee charged out the door, Adrien followed closely behind, as did the rest of the class. Caline watched them go and wondered if they would be okay. She knew Chloé had appeared a lot more as Queen Bee in the last week or so, but she also knew that Ladybug seemed to be the team leader, and if no one knew who the other was, did they even know she was sick?

Caline shrugged. “Well… I’m sure they’ve dealt with worse,” she said to herself as she packed up her notes for the day. “I mean, there’s two of them. They’ll be fine.”

Caline ended up staying a tad longer than she had planned to. The quizzes she had to hand back the next day had an essay portion, and she wanted to make sure they were finished before she headed out. While she may not have liked grading, it was still a part of her job.

She wasn’t two steps out the door when she saw something that made her freeze.

There, across the street, was Marinette. She was wrapped in what looked like a pink and blue comforter and from what Caline could tell, she was still dressed in her PJ’s. Her hair looked like a rat’s nest, and her eyes were glazed over as she hunched along in the direction of the Louvre.

“Marinette?!” Caline yelled. “What do you think you’re doing?” She ran across traffic to her student, who was still shuffling down the sidewalk. Marinette only stopped when Caline put her hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“Ms. Bustier?” Marinette asked in a voice that sounded like she was underwater. Caline cringed at the site of her; up close, Marinette’s face was flushed and her eyes were bloodshot. While she hadn’t made direct contact with any skin, Caline could tell just from looking at her that Marinette probably had that gross, spongy, sticky thing going on that comes with being incredibly sick.

“Oh my God. Get inside right now, young lady,” Caline snapped as she dragged Marinette across the street towards the school.

“But the Louvre is that way,” Marinette flailed an arm in the direction of not the Louvre.

“Yes, but my room is this way, and you aren’t going anywhere. Now, get inside this instant,” Caline said as she pulled Marinette back into the school and to her office.

Marinette put up a minimal fuss as Caline ordered her onto the small, pink chase in her office. Marinette shivered violently from within her comforter as Caline started up her hot plate to brew some tea.

“Honestly, what were you thinking being out there? There is no way Tom and Sabine let you out looking like that. Did you sneak out? Look at you, of course you snuck out. You can’t just…”

“But he’s got them!” Marinette let out with a whine. She held up her phone for Caline to see. On it was a video clip of the front of the Louvre. Queen Bee and Chat Noir were both on their knees, covering their heads and rocking back and forth as some strange, green goo covered both of them.

In between them stood what looked like a Minotaur wearing a purple suit and a pair of sunglasses.

“People of Paris,” the beast growled. “I am Emotionabull! Bring me Ladybug’s miraculous, or these two heroes will not live to see tomorrow!”

Caline just stared. “That is the worst name ever. Emotionabull? I mean, mine wasn’t much better, but wow. Wow.”

“They’re in trouble,” Marinette wheezed. “Hawkmoth knows that if he takes Chat’s miraculous now, ladybug would be putting Paris in greater danger by appearing and she’d not… Not appear. He’s waiting to get both. I have to do… To do something…”

Marinette started coughing violently as Caline quickly poured out some hot tea. Marinette wiped her nose and mumbled a thank you as she started gulping it.

“I have to go,” Marinette said as she set the tea down and struggled to stand. “They neeeeeed heeeeellllp.”

Caline put her hands on Marinette’s shoulders and gently pushed her back onto the chase. “You’re not going anywhere. You can barely walk. If you went outside right now… Well, I doubt you’d manage to get very far, from the look of you.”

“They need me,” Marinette wheezed. Her eyes were fluttering. “I need to… I need…”

Caline glared at Marinette and held up a bottle of Benadryl. “What you need,” Caline said in a stern voice, “is sleep. Which is why I spiked your tea. You’ll be out in five minutes, so get comfy.”

“You can’t!” Marinette said as she nodded off and then snapped back awake. “I have to save them.”

Caline looked again at the phone. “I’ll admit they have their hands full, but I know they’ll pull through. They always do, but if you go out there… Sweetie, you won’t last ten seconds like that. And then what? How bad will you feel then?”

Marinette said something that sounded like words, but it came out completely garbled. A moment later, Caline sighed with relief as Marinette passed out cold on the chase.

She glanced at the phone again. While she hadn’t wanted to worry the girl, Marinette had been right; things did look pretty bad. This Emotionabull character seemed to have both heroes sealed up tight, and Caline wondered if any of Paris’s other heroes were even able to come to their aid.

“Dammit girl,” Caline muttered to herself. “Why’d you have to go swinging in the rain this weekend?”

“I _told_ her it was a bad idea,” a small voice chirped.

Caline blinked and turned around.

A small, red, bug monster was floating in front of her.

Caline screamed and tripped backwards, crashing into her desk and spilling the quizzes she had worked so hard to grade all over the floor. She scrambled away, her eyes never leaving the floating thing before her.

“What are you?! Did you talk? How did you talk? What’s going on?!”

All valid questions.

“Hi, I’m Tikki,” Tikki said with a smile and a wave. “It was really nice of you to help Marinette. I kept telling her she was making a mistake, but she just wouldn’t listen to me.” The bug, Tikki, glanced down at the sleeping Marinette. “Once she sets her mind to something, it’s hard to shake her.”

Caline blinked a few times as she processed what was happening in front of her. She then remembered when she had sat down with Adrien a few nights ago and the small voice that came from his pocket, asking for cheese.

“Okay,” Caline said as she took several deep breaths. “Okay. So, to be clear,” She pointed at Marinette. “I’m guessing we’ve officially moved past the point of pretending she isn’t a superhero?”

Tikki flashed Caline a warm smile. “You’ve been very kind to her about it, and discrete. I really do appreciate it. No one is supposed to know anything about them. It’s for their own protection.”

Caline laughed. “Did anyone bother to tell that to Chloé?”

Tikki frowned and looked off to the side. “That was a one-off.”

They stayed like that for several seconds.

“Out of curiosity, how did you find out?” Tikki asked.

“Startrain,” Caline answered, still not quite believing she was talking to a magical bug. “And the internet.”

Tikki nodded. “I wondered. There weren’t a lot of places she could have said she was hiding, were there?”

“Nope.”

A moment passed.

“Is she going to be okay?” Caline asked, her eyes on Marinette.

“Yes, she just needs to rest. She was up all weekend working on a costume project for a little boy, and that, combined with the weather… Well, I think it took its toll.”

Caline grimaced. “So, it’s my fault that Paris is doomed.”

Tikki shook her adorable head no. “That’s not true, Ms. Bustier. Marinette just doesn’t always know how to pace herself. Or self-care. Anyway, we have bigger problems.”

Tikki flew to the phone in Caline’s hand. “Chat Noir and Queen Bee are in serious trouble, and even if they manage to defeat that monster, they can’t purify the akuma. Only Ladybug can do that.”

Caline looked to Marinette who was now snoring. “But Ladybug can’t.”

Tikki floated up to eye level with Caline and said, “But Ladybug _can_.”

Caline stared at Tikki for several moments before what the kwami said clicked.

“Oh no,” she said, shaking her head vigorously. “No, no, no. NO. No way. Nuh uh. Nope.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Tikki said. She pointed to Caline’s phone. “That akuma is drawing on their fears and insecurities and turning them into a solid mass. Marinette is strong enough that she might have broken through, but I don’t know that those two can see past all that.”

The bug had a point.

“Okay,” Caline said. “So. You’re sure about this? I mean, wouldn’t it make more sense to grab someone else. Like, literally anyone else?”

“There isn’t time for that,” Tikki said. “And besides, Marinette trusts you, so that means I do, too. Please Ms. Bustier. Those kids need you.”

Caline felt every defense she had drop at those words.

“Goddammit,” she muttered to herself. She looked at her phone. At her students trapped and fighting a losing battle.

She looked at her kids.

“What do I have to do?” She asked.

Tikki smiled and floated over Marinette. “Take her earrings and put them on. Then say, ‘Tikki, spots on’ to activate your powers. When you’re done, say ‘spots off’.”

Caline reached down and gently removed the earrings. They felt extremely tiny in her hands. “You’re sure about this?” She asked one last time.

Tikki looked her in the eye. “We don’t have a choice.”

Caline let out a long sigh and put the earrings in.

“Okay. Tikki, spots on?”

There was a flash of red light and a surge of power, and suddenly Caline Bustier felt amazing. She felt like she had just drank six cups of coffee and was ready to run a marathon. She felt like a superhero.

“Oh my God, it worked! Bug? Tikki? Where did you go? Huh. I guess… Does she go in the earrings? Weird.” Caline stepped over to a hanging mirror on the back of her door and examined herself. The outfit was similar to Marinette’s but with what looked like the addition of a red and black spotted jacket. The yoyo hung lazily on her hip.

“Oh…” Caline said as her fingers traced the thin jacket. Her hand trailed up to outline her mask.

“Oh, HELL yes.”

***

She felt like she was flying.

Caline leapt from rooftop to rooftop like a cat leaps from counter to counter. She could feel the wind in her hair, but her eyes weren’t getting blurry. When she landed, there was barely any shock or vibration in her feet.

For fun, she did a couple of rolls as she hit the roofs.

Caline made her way towards the Louvre, swinging from her yoyo and diving dangerously close to the traffic below. The yoyo had intimidated her at first, but it seemed to just… Work. All Caline had to do was think about what she wanted it to do, and it just did it. A flick of the wrist, and it was attached to a building. A quick spin, and suddenly she had a yoyo propeller in her hand.

She finished by flying into the air, somersaulting three times and landing not twenty feet in front of Emotionabull, who stood with his arms crossed, patiently waiting.

“So, you’ve come at last… Ladybug?” Emotionabull lowered his sunglasses and blinked in confusion. “You look taller than I thought you would. And is that a new jacket?”

Caline took the scene in as best she could. She thought about what Ladybug would do. The real one.

 _‘I guess right now, that’s me,’_ she thought.

Before she could think about it too much, Emotionabull lept in front of her and slammed into her with his head, causing her to go flying. Caline actually bounced on the pavement before rolling to a stop.

“Ouch,” she grumbled. She knew a blow like that would have normally put someone in the hospital, but for right now, it just stung.

She looked up in time to see Emotionabull coming down on her position. She did a quick kick flip up and dove out of the way, but not before he reached out and tagged her with his hand.

“Gotcha,” he snorted.

A patch of green goo appeared where she had been touched. Caline tried to brush it off, but it grew across her outfit and started to smother her. Caline panicked and tried to run, but she found herself firmly stuck to the ground. In a matter of seconds, the green goo consumed her, and she was plunged into darkness.

And then she wasn’t.

When she opened her eyes, she was sitting in a hospital chair.

Caline blinked.

The window to her left was dark, which meant it must have been late. Also, she was in a tee shirt and jeans, which she hadn’t been in before. While she didn’t know where she was, something about all of this was hauntingly familiar.

“What?” She said, confused. “Where am I? Where’s Emotionabull? Did I get hurt? Am I dead?”

As she went to stand, something slipped out of her lap and landed on the floor. Caline reached down to pick it up. It was a worn, paperback copy of _The Great Gatsby._

“Oh,” Caline said, suddenly remembering. Her fingers tightened on the book, crumpling the cover in her grip. As the book fell from her fingers and onto the chair, she knew why this felt so familiar. “Oh no.”

She turned to her right.

There, in the hospital bed, was her mother.

Caline knew this wasn’t real. She knew from what Tikki said that this was all in her head, and that Emotionabull was just forcing her to project her fears around her, but that knowledge didn’t change the sterile smell of the room, or the sound of the monitors.

It didn’t change the sight of her mother, wheezing in her sleep.

This was the night her mother had given in to cancer. This was the night she had fallen asleep while reading to her. In the morning, the nurse would come in for a check-in and find her mother dead, but right now…

Caline shut her eyes and did her best not to let her guilt overtake her. The one thing that had always hurt the most was knowing that her mother had passed while she wasn’t awake. That she hadn’t been right there for her.

“Is this what they’re feeling?” She asked herself as she forced herself to focus. “Oh God, those poor kids. Is this what they’re going through?”

Caline closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. In through her nose, out through her mouth. She did her best to let go of the guilt she was feeling inside of her. She focused.

Maybe it was because of the daily meditation sessions she did with the kids to help ward off akuma attacks. Maybe it was because she had already had years to mull this moment over in her mind. It could have been because she was an adult and had been given more opportunities in life to learn how to cope with her feelings.

Whatever the reason, Caline was able to relax.

She looked down at her mother.

“I’m here to watch you die,” she said.

Caline felt herself start to shake.

“No,” she said, her voice firmer than she thought she could manage. She closed her eyes and willed herself to focus

“If this is going to happen… Then we’re doing it right this time.”

Caline took a deep breath, and then gently shook her awake.

“Wuh? What’s going on?” Her mother asked. Caline sucked in a breath. She hadn’t heard that voice in years, and she thought she had remembered it well enough, but to hear it now? So weak. So soft. The voice she grew up listening to was buried under that, slowly drifting away.

“Callie?” Her mother looked at her with sunken eyes. There was fear on her face. Caline could see that her mother wasn’t able to push it back anymore; she knew it was time. “Callie? I’m scared.”

“Shhh,” Caline said as she bent down beside her mom. “It’s… It’s okay to be scared, you know. You taught me that.”

Her mother took her hand and squeezed it. Caline squeezed back as gently as she could. Her mother’s grip was so weak now. Only a few days ago it had been so strong, she remembered. Now, it was like holding crisp, crunchy snow in her palm.

“Callie, did you finish your schooling? How did the dissertation go? Did, did you do it, dear?”

Caline caressed her mother’s face and nodded. “I did, mama. And I got a job. A real good job as a teacher, right in the heart of Paris. And I have so many kiddos, mama. You’d be so proud of them. They’re incredible. They’re my heroes. Just like you.”

Her mother looked up at her and smiled. “You kept your promise?”

Caline nodded and wiped a tear from the side of her cheek. “I did, mama. I’m taking care of all of them. Two of them need my help right now, in fact. I need to get back to them soon.”

Her mother tensed. “But if you go… Please don’t leave me. I don’t want to be alone. I’m scared. Please,” she begged, pulling Caline’s hand to her. “Please Callie. I don’t know what’s waiting for me.”

Caline continued to stroke the side of her mother’s face. She knew this wasn’t real. She also could never say no to her mother.

But she could say goodbye.

“We were reading. You fell asleep right before the end,” Caline said to her. She let go of her mother’s hand and picked up the book from the chair where she had dropped it. “Why don’t you close your eyes and listen, and we’ll finish it together. How does that sound?”

Her mother smiled at her and nodded. “I’d like that,” she whispered.

Caline opened the book and thumbed to where she remembered being. It was right at the last page, but that was strangely fitting, she thought.

“Callie?”

Caline looked up. “Yes, mama?”

“Do you think they’ll have dancing?”

Caline was caught off guard by the question. She looked at her mother for a moment and sniffed back her tears. Her mother’s eyes were glassy and unfocused. “Mama, if they don’t, then I think you’ve gotten a bum deal. You _demand_ dancing. Every night.”

“Your father was a good dancer. He would take me out every Saturday. We’d dance at Reneé’s, in the tea garden.”

Caline found the passage she was looking for. “Mama? You’ll see him again. I promise. And he’ll take you to Reneé’s. You’ll dance every night. And everything will be okay. I promise.”

Her mother closed her eyes, and Caline started to read out loud.

“Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…. And one fine morning—— So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

The machines by her mother’s bedside let out a long, continual beep before Caline reached out to shut them off. She leaned down and gently kissed her mother on the forehead.

“Goodnight, mama. I love you.”

The world went green.

***

Caline blinked as the world around her came into focus. She was still in the green goo, and she could see Emotionabull reaching through it towards her ears.

 _‘Right. This is happening,_ ’ She thought to herself.

Emotionabull went flying as the green shell around Caline exploded. He looked up, dazed, to see Caline standing before him, her jacket fluttering in the breeze.

“How did you escape?” Emotionabull looked generally confused at the sight before him. She was supposed to be trapped, broken, helpless.

Instead, Caline was crackling with red energy.

“You think you can hurt me with guilt? You think that gives you _power_?”

Caline started walking towards the frightened Emotionabull, who was now crawling backwards and away from the furious superhero in front of him.

“You miscalculated. I’m not some child who doesn’t know how to deal with loss. I own my guilt. I accept it! I recognize it for what it is and I do _not_ let it define me! You think you have control over me? You think you know how to _hurt_ someone?”

Caline cracked her knuckles and rolled her neck.

“You don’t know what pain is.”

A purple butterfly appeared in front of Emotionabull’s face. He cocked his head as if listening, but then shook it. “Forget it,” he snorted. “I’m not risking my neck for you, Hawkmoth.”

“Too late,” Caline said as she charged.

Later, the Ladyblog would issue a special warning concerning the footage that had been captured by a pedestrian’s phone. The violence shown was not condoned by the Ladyblog and the footage was labeled as not appropriate for children under the age of 12.

Caline landed hard on Emotionabull with a knee and knocked the wind right out of him. Before he could even respond, she had straddled his chest, grabbed him by the horn with one hand and started punching him with the other. He tried pushing her off, but she caught his hand and twisted. She did not stop.

“Please stop!” He screamed.

“Nope,” Caline said over the sound of a crack.

In the back of her mind, she really, _really_ hoped those ladybugs fixed things as well as she thought they did.

Emotionabull was dazed and beaten. His right arm was bent the wrong way and his face was a purple, puffy mess. Caline watched as a purple butterfly outline appeared again over his (now really swollen) head. Before the bull could say anything, Caline grabbed him by both horns and yanked his face, and the butterfly outline, to within inches of her own.

“Listen up and listen good,” she hissed. “I don’t know who you are or what you’re up to but understand this. You’re done for today. You’re done for this week. No one does this to my kids,” she took a deep breath, and her words came out as a growl. “Yeah, that’s right. These are _my_ kids, and if you ever try to hurt them like this again? Getting in their heads? Oh, I will find you. And I will make you _bleed_.”

“Who… Who are you?” Emotionabull said in a strained voice.

Caline stood. Her red jacket shone in the sunlight, and she smirked as she used her thumb to wipe a bit of blood from her cheek.

“I’m Mamabug.”

She then stomped on bull’s sunglasses, which had come off sometime in the middle of all that punching. A purple butterfly flew out.

She had seen this part online enough to know what to do next. One quick swipe and the akuma was gone.

A man in a suit was left sitting on the ground. “What happened?” He looked around. “I had just visited my dad in the nursing home and… Did I get akumatized?”

Caline nodded to the man as she stood and dusted off her hands. “You’re okay now, sir. Just head home. I’ll take things from here.”

The man scurried off as she looked around. She was waiting for the bugs to appear, but they never did. Suddenly she snapped her fingers and nodded to herself.

“Right. Forgot the thing. Lucky charm!”

She threw her yoyo in the air. A baseball bat fell into her hands.

Caline let out a low whistle. “Good thing I skipped this part or he’d probably be dead by now,” she muttered. She threw the bat into the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!” She yelled.

Did she have to yell? She didn’t know, but it felt good.

The bugs swarmed over the plaza. Instantly, Chat Noir and Queen Bee were freed. They both immediately collapsed. Chat had a haunted look on his face, while Queen Bee was openly sobbing.

Caline rushed to their sides and swept both of them into a hug. “Hey,” she cooed. “It’s done now. It’s over. It’s all over, I promise.”

“She was right there,” Chat kept murmuring. “I could see her. She was right there.”

“She wouldn’t turn around,” Queen Bee wept. “Why wouldn't she just look at me?”

Parent teacher conferences were going to be a bit different this year, Caline thought to herself.

“Hey. Hey. It’s done now, okay. It was just a very, very bad dream.” Caline patted both of them on the back as they both nodded and leaned back to talk to her.

Chat Noir noticed first.

“Who are you?!” He blurted out, eyes wide. Queen Bee was just staring, her mouth dragging on the ground.

“I’m just a fill-in,” Caline said with a smile.

“Ladybug?” Queen Bee asked, amazed. “You got, um, old.”

“I prefer mature,” Caline said with a frown.

Chat Noir looked at her and blushed. “I do too,” he said without thinking.

Caline bopped him hard on the head.

“Down, cat boy. Let’s save it for your lady.”

Beside him, Queen Bee let out a snort.

Chat Noir looked her over and nervously asked. “So you’re not… What should we call you?”

Caline ruffled his hair and grinned. “Like I told the bull. Call me Mamabug.”

***

When Marinette came to, she felt like she had been out for hours. The first thing she noticed was that Caline was sitting beside her with a cup of tea in hand and an open box of pastries on her desk.

“Hey there,” Caline said in her concerned teacher voice. “You okay? You conked out pretty hard.”

Marinette blinked in confusion several times before her eyes went wide. “The Louvre!” She shouted. “I have to go. They need me..!” She stopped talking to let out a serious of coughs.

 _‘Oh my God, she is a mess when she’s sick,’_ Caline thought.

She put a hand on Marinette’s shoulder and looked her in the eye. “Your friends are fine. The monster is gone, and Chat Noir and Queen Bee pulled through. It’s okay.”

Marinette shot a confused look at Caline. “But… The akuma needs to be captured. I, um, need to go.”

“It was taken care of,” Caline said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Now, I’ve called your mother to let her know you wandered here in a delirious fit. She’s on her way over to take you home, and home you will stay. Understand, Ms. Dupain-Cheng? No more running all over the city, spouting nonsense.”

Caline shook her head and tisked. “Really. Going on about fighting akumas and superheroes. You were really out of it, you know that?”

Marinette shot Caline a sheepish look and blushed in embarrassment. “Thank you,” she said in a small voice. “Sometimes I don’t know when to stop.”

Caline nodded in understanding. “I have that same problem with your parent’s pastries. Here, have a scone. I had some macaroons, but they seem to have vanished.”

Caline eyed the crumb-covered purse at Marinette’s side.

“Thank you, but I’ll pass.” Marinette wiped the sleep from her eyes. “Being sick doesn’t lend well to food.”

Caline shrugged and helped the sick girl to her feet. “No, I suppose it wouldn’t.” On her desk, Caline’s phone dinged with a text. She checked it and nodded while helping Marinette to the door. “Your mom is here. Let’s get you home, hero.”

Marinette cast Caline a quick glance, but then let the comment drop.

***

The next day, early in the morning, Caline was checking the news on her phone while enjoying a morning coffee. Her classroom was empty, as school wouldn’t start for another hour at least. It was the calm before the daily storm, and it gave her the chance to watch some videos of an all-new superhero that had appeared the day before.

“Wow,” Caline murmured as she watched the footage. “That… Is a very flattering costume. This is good. This is a good morning.”

She was so engrossed that she didn’t realize someone was there until a voice cleared in front of her.

She looked up and smiled. Standing there, hugging herself and looking mildly uncomfortable, was Chloé.

“Well hello, Chloé,” Caline said with a smile. “How are you this morning?”

Chloé stared at Caline for a while and then started to rummage through her bag. She brought out a box of chocolates and set them on Caline’s desk.

Caline blinked in confusion. “Thank you? Whatever is this for?”

Chloé frowned. “I’m not stupid,” she said in a terse voice. 

Chloé turned to leave. “Thank you for saving my life, or whatever,” she said as she made her way back out the door.

“You’re welcome,” Caline said as she sipped her coffee.

Chloé stopped for only a moment, and then continued out.

As if to keep a theme going, around ten minutes later, Adrien popped in. He looked considerably happier than Chloé and Caline was happy to return his smile.

“And good morning to you, Adrien,” Caline said. “Are you doing okay?”

Adrien nodded looked around for a moment.

Caline gave a small nod in acknowledgement. “You’re the only one here.”

She reached into her desk and took out a small piece of stinky cheese. She had been saving it since their talk at the café, just in case. Casually, she set it on the desk.

“I just wanted to say thank you,” Adrien said. “For everything.”

“Well, you’re welcome, Adrien.” She stared at him. “I take it the talk with your father went well?”

Adrien grinned and nodded. “It did. I mean, he’s not the most open person, but I think he listened. It was… Nice.”

“That’s good to hear,” Caline said. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Adrien blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “I am. In fact, I think… I’m going to _be_ okay. Going forward, I mean.”

“You know, it’s okay if you’re not okay,” Caline said.

“I know,” Adrien said. “But recently I had to really, um, face my fears, I guess you could say? Afterwards, I realized they were more…”

Adrien paused and frowned. Caline could tell he was wrestling with the words.

“I was afraid of how I felt, my reaction to things. Not so much of what happened to, um, my mom. I think that was eating me up inside. Does that make any sense?”

Caline nodded. “Yes. Yes, it most certainly does.”

They smiled at each other. The cheese that had been on the desk was now gone.

***

It took another two days, but finally, Caline was graced with a returning Marinette. She had snuck in early, much like her friends a couple days prior. She looked considerably better from when Caline had last seen her, and she was holding two large, white boxes in her hands.

“Well, good morning, stranger. Welcome back to class,” Caline said with a warm smile. She set her phone down and leaned back in her chair. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better,” Marinette said. “The last three days were strangely quiet, so I got more rest than normal. It was just what I needed, apparently.”

“Apparently,” Caline agreed. She eyed the boxes Marinette had just set on her desk. Were they doughnuts? Pastries? Any day white boxes appeared from the Dupain-Cheng residence was a good day. “What’s all this?”

“Well,” Marinette said as she opened the first box. “Last night I was feeling better, so I got back to work. So, honest opinion. Do you think your neighbor’s son will like it?”

Marinette lifted a red and black Mr. Bug suit out of the box to show to Caline. Caline nodded with a huge smile as Marinette turned it back and forth. The outfit was a perfect replica of Adrien’s Mr. Bug costume, right down to the yoyo at the hip.

“Allen is going to love it,” Caline said. “How much do I owe you?” She reached into her purse for her wallet.

Marinette bit her lip. “About that,” she said. She scooted the second box out from under the first and opened it.

“So, while I was sick, I had a lot of time to browse the web, read some blogs, watch some videos…”

She held up a red and black spotted blazer. Caline’s eyes went wide.

“I guess you could say I got inspired.”

Caline set her drink down and reached out to feel the fabric. It was soft, but it felt like it was durable. There were no runs in the fabric, or blotches in the stitching. It was designer-quality, through and through. There was even red silk lining the inside.

“Oh, sweetie,” Caline said as she stood and held the jacket. It looked like her Mamabug jacket, but where that one was more street, this looked like something she would wear to a formal dinner or a board room meeting. “This is beautiful.”

“No charge,” Marinette said. Caline opened her mouth to protest, but Marinette held up a hand.

“You stopped me from doing something stupid, and a little bug told me that you… You saved my friends. You saved all of us. So, no charge. I insist.”

Caline eyed Marinette for a moment. “Am I supposed to say I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

Marinette grinned. “Please.”

Caline shook her head, eyes still focused on the blazer. If this had been in a store, Caline realized it would have cost an entire paycheck, maybe more. If nothing else, Marinette was a master designer.

“Sweetie, this is too much. I can’t take this.”

“You can,” Marinette said.

“You can,” a small voice from Marinette’s purse said.

The two women looked at each other for a moment. A now nervous, wide-eyed Marinette let out a small, uncomfortable giggle.

Caline let out a long sigh.

“If I take the jacket, will your purse stop talking to me?”

Marinette looked like she was going to have a coronary right there in the classroom. Caline, however, just turned her attention back to the jacket.

“Okay. Yeah, okay. I can. Thank you so much!” She came around the desk and gave Marinette a hug, which Marinette happily returned. “You’re amazing, kiddo. You know that?”

“You’re a hero, Ms. Bustier. You know that?” Marinette said with a smirk.

Caline blushed.

As class started, Caline met the smiles and thumbs up from her students at her new apparel.

“Killer jacket, Ms. B,” Alix said.

“It’s lovely!” Rose cooed. “And it fits you so well!”

“Thank you,” Caline said. She did a turn to show it off. “It’s a Marinette original.”

Every eye in the class turned to an embarrassed Marinette. She flashed a small smile and nodded.

“Um, it’s true.”

She was met with a chorus of ‘oohs!’ and praise. It was a bit much for the superhero as she slinked backwards and giggled nervously.

Caline looked around the classroom and took a deep breath, ready to begin the day.

“So today, we’re going to continue talking about _The Great Gatsby_. Now that we’re far enough into the story, let’s discuss the cover art and its reference in the story. Any thoughts on the symbolism of green?”

If you were to call Caline Bustier a superhero, she would be the first person to tell you she wasn’t.

She wasn’t a brave adventurer. She had no superpowers.

Save one.

As the kids in her class raised their hands and started discussing symbolism, Caline looked over them and realized that if she had to, she would beat down a hundred monsters to keep them safe, powers or no.

Because whether they knew it or not, they were her kids, and protecting them was her job.

She was Caline Bustier.

Teacher.

Confidant.

Protector.

Mamabug.


End file.
